News
Experts in language promotion, structural biology and extinction receive KU Research Achievement Awards
Book will guide teachers and child care providers in using the Pyramid Model
KU researchers studying efficacy of automatic recording and AI analysis of children's language use and development
AI Project for Early Childhood Language Assessment Aims to Speed Up Intervention for Children with Developmental Delays
Trina Spencer named director of Juniper Gardens
Trina Spencer, who researches the promotion of academic language of young children with and without disabilities, has been named director of the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project at the University of Kansas, one of 12 research subcenters at the KU Life Span Institute. ...
International Report on Autism Offers Comprehensive Model of Autism Care
A new, comprehensive model of autism care and treatment that prioritizes personalized, stepped care approaches is urgently needed, according to a new international report published in The Lancet. ...
Autism Research That Relies On Preschool Peers Receives Grant To Study Predictive Factors For Communication Development
If you’ve ever witnessed the blur of activity that is a typical preschool-age child, it can be difficult to imagine them as disciplined research partners. ...
Juniper Gardens Children's Project Enrolling Preschoolers with Autism for a Research Study
This study is a good match if:...
Web Application Developed at KU Shows Promise in Helping Improve the Communication Skills of Infants and Young Children
Using data to inform decisions or next steps isn’t just the bedrock of boardrooms and business. A team of University of Kansas researchers has shown that it’s also the foundation for improving the language development and communication skills of infants and toddlers. ...
KU researchers receive $2.4 million grant to increase access to and evaluate online interventions for autism spectrum disorder
As the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered schools and forced many children with autism spectrum disorder to be schooled at home, professionals and families became concerned that children with disabilities might not be receiving adequate and specialized instruction because teachers had limited time or resources needed to support all children and parents. ...
University of Kansas Autism Researcher Invited to Advise Sesame Workshop
Brian Boyd, director of the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project at the KU Life Span Institute, was invited by Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, to join an advisory meeting on May 18th to discuss recommendations for new resources for Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children. ...
Interventions for Families, Adolescents and Young Children Are Focus of Autism Research Programs Awarded $13 Million
The University of Kansas, through the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, is a partner in two autism spectrum disorder research projects that have recently been awarded $13 million in federal grants. ...
Bridging the Gap: Grant to Expand Coaching Availability to Serve Children with Autism
Through OASIS, clinicians work with children and their families to focus on skills such as social engagement, receptive communication and following directions. The courses begin with online training modules and a review of recurring challenging behaviors. From there, the families and clinicians work on introducing new skills in a series...
Study Shows LGBTQ+ Individuals with Autism Have Greater Health Disparities Than Peers
Individuals with disabilities or who identify as LGBTQ+ often encounter difficulties in navigating the American health care system. A new study from the University of Kansas has found that people with autism spectrum disorder who identify as LGBTQ+ have greater health disparities than their peers, including being denied service or...
Researchers Gather Most Promising Interventions Addressing "Word Gap" Into Special Edition of Journal
Some children in the U.S. grow up under severe disadvantage in terms of the amount and quality of language they are exposed to in their earliest years. Researchers have documented that some children are exposed to roughly 30 million fewer words than other children during years that are critical for...
Community Conversation featuring No Small Matter documentary
A community conversation about building opportunities and bridging the word gap for children and families in Wyandotte County was held Jan. 22, 2019 at the Reardon Convention Center in Kansas City, Kan. The event, sponsored by the Juniper Gardens Children's Project, the KU Life Span Institute, Kansas Action for Children...
KU Lands $8 Million Grant to Take Proven Classroom Management Method Nationwide
When students have more time to focus on class material and are not interrupted by inappropriate behavior, it stands to reason teachers will have more time to engage them and boost achievement. Researchers at the University of Kansas have secured an $8 million grant to expand a program that has...
KU Center Part of $27M Grant to Boost Literacy for Struggling Kansas Readers
The Center for Research on Learning at the University of Kansas has been selected to be part of a $27 million federal grant to help schools across the state boost language and literacy skills for struggling readers. ...
Chancellor Girod Visits Juniper Gardens Children's Project
Juniper Gardens welcomed Chancellor Doug Girod for his first visit to the Children's Campus of Kansas City on September 4. Chancellor Girod, Life Span Institute Director John Colombo, Juniper Gardens Director Brian Boyd and Juniper Gardens scientists, staff and students met each other and shared information on Juniper’s history, its...
New Push Will Help Children Meet Individualized Literacy Goals in Preschool
Researchers from the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project at the University of Kansas are improving kids’ response to literacy instruction in Kansas City area preschool classrooms. ...
Brian Boyd joins Juniper Gardens Children's Project
Brian Boyd, associate professor of occupational science and associate chair for research of the Department of Allied Health Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, assumed the leadership of the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project (JGCP), a University of Kansas research center located on the Children’s Campus of...
Project Training Preschool Teachers to Boost Kids' Literacy Expands to More Classrooms
In classrooms around the Kansas City metropolitan area, literacy coaches are teaming up with more teachers in preschool settings to increase and improve children’s engagement with evidence-based literacy activities and foster growth in pre-literacy skills. ...
New Leader Announced for Juniper Gardens Children’s Project
Brian Boyd, associate professor of occupational science and associate chair for research of the Department of Allied Health Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will assume the leadership of the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project (JGCP), a University of Kansas research center located on the Children’s Campus...
KU Child Research Center Wins $7.5M in Grants to Promote High-Quality Early Education
The Juniper Gardens Children’s Project (JGCP), located on the Children’s Campus of Kansas City in Kansas City, Kansas, has been awarded $7.5 million for four new research projects from the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences. JGCP is one of the 13 affiliated research centers of the University...
2016 Higuichi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards include Carta
Four faculty members at two universities in Kansas -- including Judith Carta of the Juniper Gardens Children's Project -- have been named recipients of the state's most prestigious recognition for scholarly excellence: the Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards. The four will be recognized Dec. 13 during a ceremony at the...
Walker Appointed to Kansas Action for Children Board
Dale Walker, associate research professor at theJuniper Gardens Children’s Project and professor in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Kansas Action for Children. ...
Preschoolers with ASD Recruited for iPad Project
Researchers at the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project are recruiting participants for a study aimed at increasing communication and play skills of preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder. ...
Juniper Gardens Team Among First Winners of Bridging the Word Gap Competition
An innovative team at the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project has won a $10,000 prize from the Bridging the Word Gap Challenge for the design of a communication intervention program that uses a mobile device. ...
Kids with ASD use iPad App to Talk and Play
Life Span Institute scientist Kathy Bourque has approached the social communication problems of children with autism from several directions. She developed and tested both peer training and teaching strategies to increase social communication between children with autism and their classmates. ...
Cultural Adaptation of Online Intervention Program Underway for Hispanic Families
Researchers with the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project and K-CART are testing a Spanish version of the Online and Applied System for Intervention Skills (OASIS) that will go beyond translating the program from one language to another. ...